At a time when many Americans don't know what country we gained our independence from, much less why there was a revolution, it's not surprising that these uneducated people also have no idea what the founding principles were and why they're important. The 4th of July is, for them, a time to party, have a bar-be-que and watch fireworks. But for many indoctrinated into a cultural Marxist view of America, our history isn't a blank, it's a hateful distortion. And those who have swallowed uncritically the rabid left's propaganda, the Independence Day holiday is no cause for celebration.
The usual issues spouted by those who hate this country center around slavery, the treatment of native Americans, the exploitation of the working class by the corporate "robber barons" and, of course, what they view as the continuing struggle against income inequality, racism, misogyny, and discrimination against anyone of a different sexual orientation. These examples of man's inhumanity to man are hardly unique to America or any particular time in history, but for these cultural Marxists, the most extreme on the left, historical context, human nature, even the truth are irrelevant. In their post-modern vision, logic and facts are inferior to emotions, especially if those emotions satisfy some kind of self-proclaimed moral superiority that salves an inner sense of inferiority. So they view this nation through a dark lens of smug, narcissistic sense of self-righteousness, disdaining reality in favor of feeling good about themselves. And to elevate their status above those they deem morally inferior, they demonize and denigrate anyone who disagrees with them as evil, using such terms as Nazi or racist. Hatred is their motivation and lies their tool. Self-reflection might help them realize that promoting the evil of hatred and tyranny as the way to a righteousness society is hypocritical, but that's irrelevant. Promoting their narrative is all that matters. Attaining power and crushing those they hate is their goal.
Obviously, not everyone on the left is so extreme or rabid. But in human social organizations, those with the drive and determination to take power, even if a minority, will usually succeed against more apathetic members of society. As it happens, the influence of these leftists is so pervasive, most Democrats don't like this country, according to a poll. They certainly don't consider America as great now or ever. Revolutions are usually started and maintained by a minority that are willing to use any means necessary to succeed. Those people who believe that violent and extreme revolutionaries are no threat because they are so repulsive to normal people, and those unwilling to fight back lest it disturb their domestic tranquility or compromise their values, will eventually find themselves victims of the revolution as the dangerous ones take over the levers of power.
In this country, a violent revolution is unlikely, although civil disorder is becoming more common. But a passive revolution is underway by the rabid left and it is succeeding. This revolution consists of a long march through the institutions, wherein academia indoctrinates students, thereby fostering revolutionaries who probably don't even realize that they are the instruments of cultural and economic change. Those passive revolutionaries then infiltrate institutions of influence such as education, the news media, the entertainment industry, large corporations, and, of course, the deep state government. Having taken those bases, their next step has been to launch a campaign to indoctrinate and control the population at large. Their sword is critical theory, the idea that America is flawed at best and evil at worst. The oppressors are Caucasians, especially males, Christians, Jews and capitalists. Their shield is suppression of free speech through political correctness, censorship or eliminating opposing platforms.
Trying to change the minds of these rabid leftists is best left to psychologists rather than debating with logic or facts. Those are meaningless in their idealized world view. Theirs is a psychological problem that only therapy can treat. The young, adult male with no job living in his parents' basement may join Antifa, the Communists who think everyone else is a fascist, to make himself feel important and worthy, like a hero opposing evil. But in the end, his pathetic life is still pathetic. And the young woman who is so outrageously angry over the crimes her professors insist this country committed against various victimized groups may have a good heart, but something in her is unwilling to apply her brain to research the truth because being angry and self-righteous feels so much better than being wrong.
There was a time when schools taught children about the good America does in this world, about American heroes, and American ideals of liberty, free enterprise, equal justice, and our spiritual heritage. And even Hollywood once made films about historical American heroes, whether warriors, inventors, artists or our founders. Those kids were told about the great things this country did, from defeating pernicious ideologies like fascism and communism, to raising the standard of living for everyone to unheard of heights, to creating the world's most innovative technology and products, to aiding development in other countries, to donating humanitarian aid, to policing the world, to acting as an example of what freedom and the rule of law can result in. Western Civilization, with the scientific method, emphasis on reason rather than superstition, Judeo-Christian values that hold the good of the individual as the basis of society, and the Protestant Work Ethic, has resulted in the most advanced civilization in history and in its culmination, the most powerful country on Earth. So there was good reason to be proud as Americans, no matter what race or national origin, and no matter the mistakes that were made in our journey to national greatness. The world would be a poorer, less free, and more dangerous place without America. So those children grew up respecting this country, even if they eventually realized America has its flaws.
The problem is, with liberty comes the opportunity to do both good and bad, and within the context of historical cultures, some bad was done by modern standards. Slavery, conquest and exploitation are the historical legacy all of humanity once exhibited. They are hardly unique to those who came to this country. But even the bad, from the perspective of history, may have been necessary in some cases to create a nation that has, until recently, been an exemplar of good, a beacon shining with the goals much of the world could aspire to. We had the evil of slavery in the south, but it created wealth that enriched this country and enabled the south to develop. We had unjust wars against Indian tribes that, through displacing their control of the land, made room for Western Civilization, industrial and agricultural development, and huge numbers of people from around the world to relocate here and settle. We had a war against Mexico that expanded our nation into areas rich in minerals and other wealth. Our free market system led to giant corporations that exploited workers but created the most prosperous and industrially developed nation on Earth. Eventually, the nation created at the sacrifice of so many people became something different, not only the world's most powerful country with an unheard of level of prosperity, but a country with a conscience.
The end result was a nation that addressed the bad that was done because even if some people used their liberty to victimize others, there were more than enough people of conscience willing to redress the wrongs. And the reason those people did so was because they weren't cynical and devoid of moral reasoning, it's because they were taught American ideals of fairness, justice and Judeo-Christian values.
Human progress has been the process of overcoming cultural mores that were holding us back from our best ideals. People knew that committing wrongs were against what this country stood for, what was taught in the pulpit and in schools. We thought highly of ourselves as a nation. America was exceptional because it was founded on revolutionary ideals that were enshrined in our founding documents. And so, reformers struggled to make us live up to what our founders wanted for this country, i.e., an educated, moral citizenry living in freedom, striving for prosperity, and with limited government so that no group of people could legally exercise tyranny over others. Human beings may be greedy, they may want power, they may not care about anyone but themselves, they may do anything to get what they want. Such is human nature. But there are also those who have compassion, a sense of fairness, honesty, kindness and justice. In a free society, and even within the individual, those qualities will be in a struggle for ascendancy against mankind's more base instincts. America was founded so that each individual could pursue their own happiness. It's just that some people find that dealing wrongfully with others makes them happy. The founders studied human nature and held no illusions about how their experiment might end. But they trusted in a citizenry with a moral compass and an education.
The corruption of American ideals, and, in fact, their being denigrated and disparaged by the rabid left means that this society will be without ideals, that is, a goal to strive for. Like a ship without a rudder, it will wander wherever the passions of the mob take us. Without such ideals, we are lost. And if our founding ideals are replaced by such notions that only the state is important, that individuals are expendable, that nobody is personally responsible since it's society's fault, that the government can lawfully control your destiny in life, your speech, your income, your very worth, then we are worse than rudderless. If we are governed by a new feudal class of politicians and bureaucrats that grow rich by stealing the largess of society's producers, that cater to the mob with bribery, that suppress our liberties, spy on us, and act arbitrarily instead of legally, we are back where we were before the glorious July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence. But that's where we are. The base instincts of man are coming to the fore, and they will only grow worse unless, once more, people of conscience demand reform and the end to internal subversion.